By Deborah Hassan
365Daily – The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) yesterday, Tuesday, May 19, 2021, called for an increase in the pump price of petrol from an average price of N162 to N385 per litre.
This was sequel to the adoption of the recommendation of a committee headed by Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, which backed full deregulation of the petroleum sector to end the huge allocation of funds to fuel subsidy.
The six-man committee was inaugurated by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo-headed National Economic Council (NEC) early 2021, to examine dwindling revenues of states and make recommendations how it can be addressed.
The Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki of Edo State; his Ekiti counterpart, Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State and David Umahi of Ebonyi State are members of the committee, alongside the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, and the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mallam Mele Kyari.
It is expected that the meeting of the Federation Accounts Allocations Committee (FAAC) would hold today and the recommendation of the NGF will be presented.
The Governors said the transportation crisis that will arise from the proposed astronomical hike in petrol price should be cushioned with purchase of 113 buses by the Federal Government.
However, the endorsement of the price hike by the NGF is not final as NEC still has to give its nod to the recommendation.
A communiqué released by the Governors after the meeting last night revealed that the Federal Government spends between N70 billion and N210 Billion to subsidise petrol price at N162 per litre monthly, adding that Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, Rivers and Abuja as the top consumers of petrol.
The Governors said the increase in the price of petrol to N385 per litre would not only save the Government N1.3 trillion and N2. 2.3 trillion per annum, but would also discourage smuggling of the product to neighbouring countries.
Furthermore, the committee noted that the NNPC had said that it would remit zero allocation to FAAC due to the huge cost of subsidising petrol and called for the sale of the country’s three refineries after rehabilitation.